Photo provided by Creekside Growers
It’s Fiona Macauley and Jillian Edwards from Norfolk Hearing Clinic – Growing Up On The Farm; local families building the future of agriculture – one generation at a time… fueled by Kubota.
Today we are looking at Creekside Growers.
A flower farm that began with a handful of peonies on a rural property has grown into one of Norfolk County’s unique agricultural success stories.
Nick and Hilary VanderHeide started growing cut flowers in 2009 after moving to the countryside and looking for a way to use their land. Nick, who came from a construction background, said the couple leaned on Hilary’s experience growing peonies on her family’s hobby farm in Niagara-on-the-Lake and advice from local growers and agricultural experts.
After experimenting with several crops, the couple focused on peonies and dahlias before expanding into mail-order dahlia tubers across Canada. In 2017, the growing business relocated from Hartford to a larger farm just outside Delhi.
Nick said the biggest challenges were taking the financial risk and learning an entirely new industry while relying on unpredictable weather. Support from the Simcoe research station and online resources helped them along the way.
The farm has continued to expand with new greenhouse projects every two years since 2021, allowing it to supply greenhouse-grown cut dahlias months before other growers across North America.
The Flower Shack, launched in 2020, has also evolved into a thriving floral business, with Hilary now designing weddings booked as far ahead as 2028.
The full interview with Nick VanderHeide is featured in the latest episode of the Growing Up on the Farm podcast, where they discuss their family’s past, their daily work on the farm and their hopes for the future.
